Story highlights

Number of injured rises to 893 after Spanish police crackdown

UN human rights chief calls for inquiry into violence

Barcelona (CNN)Spain is facing a political and constitutional crisis after Catalans voted in favor of independence in a contested referendum that descended into chaos when police launched a widespread and violent crackdown.

The Catalan government said it had earned the right to split from Spain after results showed 90% of those who votedwere in favor of a split.

But amid an unexpectedly harsh response from Spanish police, turnout was only around 42%. The Catalan health ministry said 893 people were injured in the clashes Sunday as riot police raided polling stations, dragged away voters and fired rubber bullets.

The Catalan President Carles Puigdemont denounced the police crackdown as the worst violence Catalonia had seen since the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and demanded the withdrawal of Spanish national forces from the region.

People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, called for "independent and impartial investigations into all acts of violence" around the independence referendum, and asked the Spanish government to allow UN human rights experts to visit.

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"Police responses must at all times be proportionate and necessary," he said in a statement. "I firmly believe that the current situation should be resolved through political dialogue, with full respect for democratic freedoms," he added.

Trade unions in Catalonia called a strike and a mass demonstration for Tuesday, an action likely to test public support for the Catalan government in the aftermath of Sunday's chaos.

The Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy said it was discussing its response with opposition parties in Madrid.

'No traumatic break'

All eyes were on the Catalan government as it considered its next move. Under the referendum legislation passed by the Catalan parliament, the regional government has 48 hours after the result is finalized to declare independence from Spain. Final votes were still being counted Monday.

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The Catalan President stopped short of declaring independence from Spain Monday -- a move that would further deepen the crisis. But Puigdemont called for an international arbiter to mediate the crisis, ideally the European Union. "This moment needs mediation," he said. "We only received violence and repression as an answer."

Puigdemont said Catalonia did not want a "traumatic break" with Madrid. "We want a new understanding with the Spanish state," he said.

If the Catalan government unilaterally declared independence from Spain, Rajoy could suspend the President and take over the running of the province. Such a move would inflame tensions considerably and would likely be a last resort for Rajoy.

Several thousand people gathered outside Barcelona's town hall Tuesday morning where the executive of the autonomous Catalan government was meeting.

People shouted "Long live free Catalonia, we are peaceful people and we only want to vote."

Photos:Divisions in Spain over Catalonia crisis

Protesters march through Barcelona during a demonstration to support the unity of Spain on October 8. A bitterly contested independence referendum on October 1 has stoked fierce divisions in the northeastern region of Catalonia and across Spain.

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Thousands of people gather in Barcelona to rally for unity in Spain on October 8.

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Protesters hold Spanish flags during a demonstration against independence for Catalonia on October 8.

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Demonstrators urge a peaceful dialogue to resolve the crisis over Catalan independence on Saturday, October 7, in Madrid, Spain.

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Crowds raise their hands during a demonstration October 7 in Barcelona encouraging talks to ease tensions over independence. Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language. But many Catalans also oppose separatism from Spain.

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People show their hands painted in white during a demonstration urging dialogue on October 7 in Madrid. Neither the Catalan regional government nor the national government in Madrid has been willing to give ground since the referendum.

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A woman wears a sticker with the Spanish word for "peace" at a demonstration in Madrid on October 7.

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Protesters with Spanish flags gather to demonstrate against independence for Catalonia in Madrid on October 7.

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People attend a protest in Barcelona on Monday, October 2, a day after hundreds were injured in a police crackdown during the banned referendum. The Catalan government claimed victory after pushing forward with the vote despite Spain's Constitutional Court declaring it illegal.

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Catalan President Carles Puigdemont greets regional government workers before a meeting at the Palace of the Generalitat in Barcelona on October 2.

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Independence supporters gather in Barcelona after Catalonia's separatist government held a referendum to decide if the region should split from Spain on Sunday, October 1.

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A member of the Catalan National Assembly cries at the end of the voting day on October 1.

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Spanish riot police remove fences thrown at them as they try to prevent people from voting in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday, October 1.

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Pro-referendum supporters clash with members of the Spanish National Police after police tried to enter a polling station to retrieve ballot boxes.

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Pro-referendum supporters lock a gate to a polling station as members of the Spanish National Police arrive to control the area during voting at the Escola Industrial of Barcelona.

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Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.

Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.

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People play games in a square where a giant pro-independence Estelada Catalan flag is displayed.

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A woman celebrates after voting at a polling station in Barcelona on October 1.

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People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.

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Pro-referendum supporters embrace as Spanish National Police try to remove them from the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona.

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People queue to vote at a school in Barcelona.

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A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Barcelona.

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Spanish riot police shoot rubber bullets at people trying to reach a voting site designated by the Catalan government in Barcelona. The deputy mayor of Barcelona said police fired rubber bullets at people as they attempted to vote in the referendum, which Spain's top court has declared illegal. There were reports that police in Girona, Spain, used batons.

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A protestor shouts as he holds a Catalan flag during a demonstration called by far-right groups in Barcelona.

A Spanish riot police officer swings a club against would-be voters near a school assigned to be a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona.

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Riot police drag a member of the public away from a school being used as a polling station. Regional authorities said 337 people were injured after Madrid deployed the national police force to close down polling stations. Catalan emergency services confirmed the number to CNN.

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People clash with Spanish National Police outside the Ramon Llull school, designated as a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona, Spain, early Sunday, October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters vowed to ignore a police ultimatum to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.

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People try to offer flowers to a civil guard at the entrance of a sports center, assigned to be a referendum polling station by the Catalan government in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain, October 1.

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People attend a demonstration against a referendum on independence for Catalonia on October 1 in Madrid, Spain.

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A woman casts her vote in a ballot at a polling station in Barcelona, on October 01 during a referendum on independence for Catalonia.

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Members of Spain's national police force clear people from a polling station where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had been expected to vote, in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain on October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters said they would not comply with a police order to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.

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A woman celebrates outside a polling station after casting her vote in Barcelona, on October 01 in a referendum on independence for Catalonia.

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Family members comfort each other after they were unable to vote in the referendum after Spanish police closed their polling station October 1 in Sant Julia de Ramis, Spain.

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People wait at the doors of the Moises Broggi school to start voting during the Catalan independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain on October 1.

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Catalan officials called on the EU to step in. "Today Europe has to choose, shame or dignity. Violence or democracy, this is our demand," the Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Raül Romeva said.

But the EU backed Madrid. The European Commission, the European Unions's executive body, said the vote was illegal. "We call on all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue. Violence can never be an instrument in politics," the commission said in a statement posted on Twitter.

It said it trusted Rajoy "to manage difficult process" in respect of the Spanish constitution.

Rajoy has said the vote was illegitimate. "At this point, I can tell you very clearly: Today a self-determination referendum in Catalonia didn't happen," he said in a televised speech Sunday night.

Majority votes for split

Of 2.2 million ballots counted, about 90% were in favor of independence, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull told a news conference shortly after midnight. Turnout was about 42% of the 5.3 million eligible voters, authorities said later Monday.

Turull said more people would have voted had it not been for the Spanish police suppression. Up to 770,000 votes were lost as a result of the crackdowns at polling stations, the Catalan government estimated.

Spain's national government in Madrid has ardently resisted separation. In the runup to the vote, national authorities seized ballot papers, voter lists and campaign material. Thousands of extra national police were sent to the region and high-ranking Catalan officials involved in organizing the referendum were arrested.

Women walk in the old quarter of Girona, Spain, draped in Catalonia's independence flag.

Regional officials said 400 polling stations were closed as a result of the police crackdown. The Spanish Interior Ministry said 92 of about 2,300 polling stations were closed.

Pablo Guillen Alvarez, an economist and ‎associate professor at the University of Sydney, told CNN that the violent scenes could lead to more support for Catalan independence.

While sympathy in the press and on social media lies with the Catalans, hard-right supporters of the Spanish government put Madrid under a lot of pressure to show strength, he said.

"The Catalan question has been boiling for 150-200 years. It's a no-go, red line for the Spanish right.

"(The government) reacted in only way that they could have."

International response

The UK's Foreign Ministry said the referendum was a matter for the Spanish government and its people.

"We want to see Spanish law and the Spanish constitution respected and the rule of law upheld. Spain is a close ally and a good friend, whose strength and unity matters to us," it said in a statement.

Charles Michel, Belgium's Prime Minister, said that violence was never the answer and called for political dialogue.

2/2 and call on Spain to change course before someone is seriously hurt. Let people vote peacefully.